Sunday, December 04, 2005

Drinkwater Mania

Well, by now, even casual(?) Red Sox fans know the name Jeremy Kapstein. His name came up when Theo's job became available, and in the ensuing craziness, he seems to have taken over the top spot for the job in many people's minds.

This is a critical moment. For this blog.

If Kapstein, aka the "former" Drinkwater, becomes the GM of the Red Sox, he will lose the cult status he gained here, and probably in the minds of a lot of fans who have followed his progress behind home plate on TV.

But the weird thing is, I feel like with just the media attention he's gained already, he may have lost it anyway.

Because, should the team go in another direction GM-wise, next year, people will see him behind the plate and say "Hey, isn't that that guy that was gonna be GM?" Anyone who didn't notice him before (what the hell were they doing, watching the game??) will now realize that it's him. His face being so prominent now will make him a huge star next year, even if he doesn't get the GM job.

I feel like I'm a Dexy's Midnight Runners fan, before "Come On Eileen" came out. Right before. Like, I know the band well, I know they've got a possible hit on their hands, but it's just a matter of whether or not the record company promotes the thing. OR, a Nirvana fan from right before "Smells Like Teen Spirit" blew up.

See how it all ties in? Everyone ended up knowing both bands, but one was just for the one song. So, Kapstein, in my mind, already has his hit, with this current publicity. The only question is, Will he end up the "voice of a generation," or a "one-hit wonder"?

Either way, everyone will know Kapstein after all this. There's no turning back.

So what do I hope happens with this man I used to think was named Drinkwater? I just hope that friend of my dad's who apparently knows the guy gets me some sweet seats behind home plate. What do I think will happen? Eh, they'll probably hire some other guy this week. But, of course, I've gotta root for Drinky.

(Note: If you've never read this blog until now--a huge possibility; you should see the hits I'm getting from people searching "Kapstein"--basically, the gist of what I'm talking about is: Me & Pat always saw this big dude behind plate at Fenway on TV. I heard that a guy named Drinkwater sat behind the plate. So we assumed they were talking about this guy. We called him Drinkwater, and started monitoring his progress, seeing him on the field talking to players during pre-games, wondering who he was. I even had the idea of a "Drinwater blog," which would keep his fans informed of his behaviors behind the plate. Pat once walked by him at a game, and almost said "Hi, Mr. Drinkwater." Eventually, we learned that Drinkwater was a different guy, adding more to the mystery of "our guy." Then they showed him on TV at a game, close-up, and wished a Happy Birthday to "Jeremy Kapstein." At that point, I looked him up, saw on redsox.com that he was a senior advisor, as well as having been a super-agent from the 70s, and even was an inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire. And when my dad heard the name, he immediately told me how his good friend is friends with him (a huge moment in my life). So do some more searching around here for past stories and pix I've taken of the man who will always be Drinkwater--with apologies to Dennis Drinkwater. Or click here for the incredible picture Reb took of yours truly and Drinkwater. I mean Kapstein.)

Jere, those of us who grew up in the 70's remember Jerry Kapstein as the guy who played a role in breaking up the late 70's Sox. He was Lynn/Burleson/Fisk's agent. For just that reason alone, the thought of him as Sox GM is unpalatable. That, and the images of him back then wearing really ugly leisure suits.

Reading Reb's stuff is so great though! I guess I still have that crush. Oh, Jere, I wrote a post on my blog with an open letter to John Lennon. Thursday is the 25th(!!) anniversary of his murder. Hope you can read it. That's important to me. 10 out.

Nice job, P10. I guess he's your Cobain. All right, it's the other way around. Cobain was my Lennon. That death was 13.3333333333 years later. The three is repeating, Peter. The three is repeating.

Do you know the story of Darby Crash?

Also, since you can't be just "10" due to my being 10 on rsn.net, we could flip it, to "01," which, of course, was the Dukes' car number. Which was a show that was banned at my house when I was little, becuase of the stars 'n' bars, and it's legacy of slavery, as was Shoeless Joe from baseball. So you can just be SIAS, for Say It Ain't So, but Steinbrenner is already called SIAS, for different reasons, so you can be Costanza, aka George, who was a Beatle, but since you're not in the Beatles, you can be Pete Best, or, simply: "Peter." Sound good?